Chennai: Shiv Sena is opposed to any talks with Pakistan by the Indian government at present.

Shiv Sena MP Shivaji Mane told reporters that time was not ripe for the talks as "Pakistan was still encouraging cross-border terrorism".

He said his party was not opposed to reservation for women, but against reservation of some constituencies for them. It should be made mandatory on the part of political parties to give seats to women to the extent of 33 per cent, he added.

He said his party wanted to expand its base and was concentrating in Tamil Nadu, Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir and that his party would have alliance with political parties, which accepted "hindutva principle" for the next Lok Sabha polls. The party's tie-up with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was confined to Maharastra alone and it was free to align with any party in other states, he said.

Mane praised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for bringing a Law banning forcible religious conversions and for introducing the "annadanam" scheme in temples. However, when asked whether the party would seek an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the state, he said no decision had been take about it so far.

Mane, who had been deputed by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray to revamp the party unit in Tamil Nadu, said a nine-member core committee, headed by A Narayanan had been constituted on May 10. The committee would identify the Lok Sabha seats to be contested by the party.

PTI